Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

NPR Criticizes Twitter for "State-Affiliated Media" Label; Weekly Jobless Claims Well Above 200-Thousand Ahead of Critical Jobs Report; FAA Warns of Air Traffic Controller Shortage Ahead of Summer; Protesters Storm Blackrock Offices In Paris. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 06, 2023 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: This morning NPR says it is disturbed by Twitter's decision to label the public broadcaster as state affiliated media. Elon Musk's social media platform is now grouping NPR and with foreign propaganda outlets like the Russian government owned and run RT and Sputnik, and the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper.

The CEO of NPR is calling the decision unacceptable, adding quote, "NPR and our member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent fact-based journalism that we provide." NPR says, it receives less than 1 percent of its annual funding from federal sources the vast majority of it come from -- comes from sources like corporate sponsorships, NPR membership fees.

Joining us now is CNN Media Analyst and Axios Media Reporter Sara Fischer. Sara, I know when NPR first saw this label, they thought it was just a mistake by Twitter. It's not.

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. No, it's not a mistake. I heard from their spokesperson Tuesday night when this first showed up. And they said they were completely blindsided by it. They reached out to Twitter, but they never really got a response. But what this represents is a broader effort by Elon Musk to go after certain media companies that he wants to target.

So if you talk about state owned media, we actually do have a state funded media arm in the U.S. Voice of America, but they don't have a label. Whereas, NPR has a label. And then you also have PBS, the public broadcaster with a very similar funding model that doesn't have a label. So, this is clearly an effort by Elon Musk and Twitter to go after NPR.

[08:35:00]

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: So this is happening. And then you also have Elon Musk removing the New York Times blue check. Is he turning off the broader public or a broader, bigger audience and just people who agree with him and perhaps even trolls? FISCHER: I think so. And I think the biggest risk is, if you go after certain media outlets without a set of parameters, you can lose a lot of trust in the platform, especially because people leverage Twitter in emergency situations. You know, if there's a flooding in your town, a natural disaster, if there's a major political situation. You want to be able to go on the platform and know that the stuff that you're seeing is authoritative.

If Elon Musk is going to sort of cherry pick which outlets get amplified which ones have labels, he risks people not being able to trust Twitter at critical times. And that's where Twitter does its best (phonetic) work is where it gets its most engagement.

COLLINS: Yes, when you see Elon Musk also sort of weighing in on the decisions he's making, like this one with NPR. But their -- what Twitter's policy is, is that state affiliated mean it's an outlet where the state, the government exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production. That's obviously not NPR.

NPR does great journalism. They cover the White House, they cover the Hill, they cover everything. They do great work. And so this idea that Twitter is doing this to them, did they leave Twitter? What are NPR options here?

FISCHER: I don't think NPR is going to leave Twitter, and I'll tell you why. A couple of days ago, I scrolled through Twitter for hours, Kaitlan, and I screenshotted every single news outlet that's still running that's on Twitter. I found almost a dozen mainstream news outlets, including "The Athletic" which is owned by "The New York Times", days after Elon Musk removed their verified checkmark.

And so I think media outlets are in this really difficult position where they, of course, feel frustrated by being singled out or their peers being singled out. But Twitter continues to be a huge platform for them to reach new audiences and to promote new products. I don't think most reporters and outlets are going to unilaterally stop using Twitter, even though these antics are crazy.

LEMON: Can we talk real quickly? And I know it's very important, but we only have a short amount of time, about Lemon8, because Lemon8 is also owned by ByteDance, which you know people have problems with TikTok because they're owned by ByteDance. But Lemon8 is very popular and it is being promoted and being used as well.

FISCHER: It's huge Don. And the thing that's important to remember is that TikTok grew its dominance here very under the radar by buying a lot of paid marketing on apps like Snapchat and Facebook. Lemon8 is coming in and it's able to gain a lot of traction, even though it can't leverage all of those same tactics in the same way, because there's a lot more scrutiny on its parent ByteDance, which, as you mentioned, is also the parents of TikTok.

Lemon8 is kind of like Instagram meets Pinterest. It's catered to Gen- Z. But we're watching it, Don, because so many national security concerns about the sister app TikTok. And a lot of people are just sort of floored that ByteDance is able to come in and launch something just as potentially big as TikTok at this really crazy time where tensions between the U.S. and China are escalating.

COLLINS: Yes. We'll see how the administration and Congress responds. Sara Fischer, thank you for joining us this morning.

LEMON: Here we go all over again. Thank you, Sara.

A weekly jobless numbers out just moments ago, we're going to break them down next.

COLLINS: Also a new warning about staff shortages at several big airports. What the FAA is doing to try to save your summer travel plans. Remember last year?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:00]

LEMON: So released just moments ago, and checking, the weekly job numbers. But I don't really need to check, because we have CNN's Business Correspondent Rahel Solomon.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: --right now.

LEMON: I'll just put it down like, why am I going to check? She is here.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I think I may handle that for you.

LEMON: Yes, what do you got for us? Good morning.

OK, so these numbers are just crossing a short time ago, about 12 minutes ago. So this is a look at how many Americans are filing for unemployment benefits for the first time. So this is a proxy for layoffs. Right. So what we see is that the number of initial claims was 228,000. And the level from the week prior -- that is for the week ending April 1st, I should say -- the level for the week prior was actually revised up by 48,000 from 198,000 to 246,000.

I want to put this in context based on what we're seeing here. And you can see that we have been sort of hovering in the 200,000 level for quite some time. So this is a bit of a jump. But Goldman Sachs actually put out a research note yesterday saying, don't be surprised if we see a jump because of some seasonal factors, saying that this is really the end of a technical distortion. If we do see a jump, which we now have, rather than a sharp jump and the true pace of claims.

Let me tell you why this is so important. In this environment where we've, honestly, all been waiting for the shoe to drop in terms of when are we going to start to see some weakness in the labor market. The weekly jobless claims is the first look, right, because all of the other data that we get from the government about the labor market, it's monthly.

This is a weekly look at how many people are filing for unemployment benefits. And so this would be the first place that you would start to see some weakness. I want to show you also all of the companies. I mean, how often have we talked about all of the companies announcing layoffs, right? There have been a lot.

LEMON: Oh, wow!

SOLOMON: Exactly. But do you notice anything when you look at all of those companies?

COLLINS: Mainly tech.

LEMON: Yes.

SOLOMON: Mainly tech. A lot of them are big companies. Some of them are not. But mainly tech. And that's what. But we're seeing still seeing really strong job creation. It's small firms. It's medium sized firms. The layoffs are really concentrated so far in tech and financial industry. So a really quite a difference we're seeing.

LEMON: That's interesting. Can we put that back up? I'm sorry. Can we just -- can we put that back up and look at, because it's like big companies we saw like IBM--

SOLOMON: Amazon, I believe is on there on there.

LEMON: Amazon is on there. Those are -- yes, just big deal.

SOLOMON: Boeing. Yes, Meta. Of course. Disney.

COLLINS: Disney, definitely notable. And Poppy, you're in Atlanta. You're there for a reason, because you're going to be interviewing Jamie Dimon. I mean -- and Rahel, just so we've got another report coming out tomorrow that's going to be significant.

POPPY HARLOW, "THIS MORNING" CO-ANCHOR: Yes.

COLLINS: It's the last one we're getting before that Fed meeting. You know, I wonder how he's viewing all of this because obviously he is such a leading voice and what their analysis on this means?

[08:45:00]

HARLOW: For sure. I mean, he is one of the most prominent voices, not only on Wall Street just on the economy around the world. And he came out with his annual letter that is read by everyone on the Street this week. And in that annual letter which Jamie Dimon writes every word of himself, which is pretty rare for CEOs. He talks about Kaitlin, a pretty good economy, but in his words, some storm clouds ahead.

So I want to know from him, what are those storm clouds? What do they look like? Are we going to get this debt ceiling thing resolved? Or are we going to default as a country? He's super worried about Ukraine and thinks it's so pressing. So we're going to talk about all that. And then first time, we're going to hear from him on the banking crisis. Like, what do we do so we don't have another SVB and Signature Bank collapse? What regulation works? He's talked about some whack a mole, his word, regulation -- politically motivated regulation. So what does he think this system needs? So see what he thinks.

LEMON: Very timely, Poppy. I mean, it's the perfect time for this.

HARLOW: Yes, thank you.

LEMON: Can't wait to see it. You'll be back tomorrow, right, and we'll talk about it.

HARLOW: See you tomorrow.

LEMON: Yes. See you tomorrow.

COLLINS: Yes.

LEMON: We'll see you in a little bit later on in the show. And thanks to Rahel.

COLLINS: Yes, those answers from Jamie Dimon will be fascinating. We'll see what he says. Also this morning on your tracking a new warning that is coming out about staffing shortfalls in some of the busiest airports. What does it mean for your summer travel plans?

LEMON: Plus, White Sox closer, Liam Hendriks, celebrating a victory that has nothing to do with baseball. Calling it one of the most emotional things he's ever done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:00]

COLLINS: All right. Welcome back. It is time for the MORNING MOMENT and this morning it's a good one. Chicago White Sox closer. Liam Hendriks is celebrating a major victory. But one that has nothing to do with being on the field. Hendriks has just completed his final round of chemotherapy treatments. He had been battling Non-Hodgkin lymphoma for months.

But yesterday he posted this video of himself bringing what is known as the victory bell.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

COLLINS: It is spirit. It is -- his expressions there. He's thanked his family, he thanked his friends, he thanked his medical team. Saying in the post quote, "These past five months had been the quickest and slowest of my life. Being able to ring this victory bell has been one of the most emotional things I've ever done."

On opening day Hendriks is listed on the 15 day injured list. It's a sign maybe he going to return to the team before June regardless. We're all just so thrilled for him. LEMON: It doesn't make you choke up. I mean, just listening to it, it does and see his expression. Good for him. Congratulations. Congratulation.

HARLOW: Well, what were we saying yesterday, Don, like you got to have--

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: You -- Poppy you read my mind. You got to what -- it solidifies what is important. We think so many things are important. If you don't have your health then what else? Right. Your health and your family, your loved ones. So--

HARLOW: Yes. They meant to that?

LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: All right. New this morning, Spring break travel, which we are not on right now. But a lot of people are heading on it. It's at its peak. There is already a warning about cancellations and delays this summer. The cause, a shortage of air traffic controllers. Pete Muntean joins us live from Reagan National Airport. Not again. Not again.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Not again. You know this is a big admission from the FAA. Poppy, that hiring for air traffic controllers is backlogged as a result of the pandemic. But now the idea is to avoid cancellations and delays this summer by having airlines scale back on the number of flights that they operate. American Airlines says it's going to do it, JetBlue and Delta say they're considering it. This is an air traffic controller shortage and passengers are going to pay for it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN (voice over): The latest challenge for your next trip is not enough air traffic controllers to keep flights moving. In a new notice. the Federal Aviation Administration is allowing airlines to scale back summer service at New York's three main airports, warning staffing shortfalls could amplify delays by 45 percent.

RICHARD SANTA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION: We need more controllers.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Richard Santa of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association says staffing shortages swelled during the pandemic, due in part to retirements and a hiring freeze. A union analysis shows the number of air traffic controllers has dropped 10 percent In the last decade. The FAA says nationwide two in every 10 controller jobs are empty. A key air traffic control facility in New York is roughly one half staffed.

SANTA: We are critically staffed and most of our air traffic control facilities.

MUNTEAN (voice over): The new admission comes after airlines delayed more than a half million flights last summer and put some of the blame on the FAA.

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: It was tight before the pandemic and they don't have enough people today and they need more.

BILLY NOLAN, FAA ACTING ADMINISTRATOR: We are continuing to hire.

MUNTEAN (voice over): FAA Acting Administrator, Billy Nolan, says the agency plans to add 1,500 new controllers this year and 1,800 next year. The Agency says last June it was flooded with almost 58,000 applications to become an air traffic controller, though it's training academy remains backlogged.

The relief can't come soon enough for airlines and passengers with another huge travel rush on the horizon.

SHARON PINKERTON, AIRLINES INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVE: This system doesn't have the capacity. We don't have enough air traffic controllers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:55:00]

MUNTEAN: Right now American Airlines is contacting passengers it says we'll be impacted by these cuts. Delta and JetBlue say they will announce their cuts sometime later this month. There is one way out here for airlines to try and blunt the impact on you. It's a process called up gauging. That means swapping out the original airplane that an airline would fly with a larger one. But the bottom line here, Poppy, is that this all comes at a cost to consumers, because it's an FAA issue.

HARLOW: Wow. Not welcome news, but thank you for it. Pete Muntean, we appreciate it.

Meantime, take a look at these protests in Paris carrying flares and storming an office building as nationwide protests continue. More news straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It's time to update some of our top stories here we've been following around the world this morning. Starting with video that you have to see, it's out of Paris. Protesters in the French capital storming the Blackrock Investment building with flares. They say that they're protesting the government's pension reform plan.

COLLINS: Moments ago, Israeli Defense Forces confirming dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel this morning. They say, at least one has been intercepted by the Iron Dome. Israel now closing its northern airspace for civil aviation.

[09:00:00]

Also, here in the U.S., three Democratic state lawmakers in Tennessee are awaiting their fate. Today, Republicans are set to hold a vote on expelling them from the States House of Representatives after their protests following that shooting in Nashville.

LEMON: All that and more, we will be following all day on CNN, "CNN's New Central." Thank you for joining us in. It's "News Central," covering all of these stories, and it starts right now.